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LONGMONT - Bill Beierwaltes started his first high-tech company with three fellow engineers from Hewlett-Packard Co. who invested $3,000 each and worked nights and weekends on their new venture.
His latest high-tech venture, OnStream Inc. of Longmont, is a spinoff from a leading multinational corporation, with an initial capitalization of $50 million and a cast of hundreds. Just two years old, it already is grabbing an international market share.
But there are several similarities between the two. Good ideas, innovative technology, forward vision and hard work. Colorado's high-tech companies rarely stand still these days, and neither do entrepreneurs such as Beierwaltes, who as OnStream's chairman and CEO is back working seven days a week again.
"If you think you've got a great formula and you can start it and Put your feet up on the desk, then you better not start it to begin with, because it won't happen that way," Beierwaltes said.
"And then you have to keep improving
it to get good profitability and good
value
and so forth, and none of that comes
without high energy and high
commitment,"
he added. "It certainly doesn't come
with guarantees."
There were no guarantees in 1972 when Beierwaltes and his partners started Colorado Time Systems, or later when he started Colorado Memory Systems, both of Loveland, or even now with OnStream.
The first two companies, however, evolved into enormous successes, and Beierwaltes is confident that OnStream will turn a profit by the end of the year and will be extremely successful, too.
Important benchmark
Reaching profitability...